Stimulation of production of oleoresins and gums in coniferous trees



Patented' Feb. 17, 1948 STATES Y,

sTiMULArrIoN oF No Drawing'.` ApplcationNovember718;;.194727 l, f sverialrNqJsasoo c claims.A (omit-roy (Granted under the act oi'f. March; 3',,1883;.as

amended .I Aprilf7 30; 1928; 3io- 0.7, G; 751,71)

`V'Ijhis application is made under theact ofV Marel-i 31'1'883; as; amended by the actfof April'30,

1923;;and"thev inventionn hereinVV described andY claimed iffpatented iriany country; may bev manutactured; land; used 'byi orf for the- Government of the?United#States.V ofi America throughout the*- Woild'j 'for gaoverru'nental"` purposesv Without the' payment tome oigan-yv royalty'y thereon;

This application 'is a continuation-impart of lieptring application Serial No; 731,198,` led- Febmary-27, 1947:

This invention relateslgtoa= method ofV increasing therlow of oleoresins or gums'from cutsure faces vof trees'. It relates .in particular to stimu# lating the-How of resins` froml artificial wounds inthe trunks of coniferous trees,v suchV as Virginia pine, slash pine, shortleaf pine, and long-v lafpinje." 1t "further relates to amethod of stimul-ating, for increasing, the inltration of, or conf te'ntjpi; pitchin woodvloftreens or stumps of trees; whereby greater "yields of" naval stores are obtainedv uponufelling the trees or pulling?- the y stumps, anddistillation of the'wood.

one' object or this invention ,is the application of a stimulating' agentthat' results in av long-il sustained,` or, yearflong; flow of oleoresin from pineswithout additional chipping of the trees. This permits the working. of smaller trees, with less damage to the trees. It also makes prontable-the utilization of additional pine species in the turpentine belt.

Another; object istheapplicaticn of a stimulating agent to the wood of coniferous trees, or

stumps-of ysuch trees, to increase the content of pitchinthewood: i

Oleoresins are natural combinations of resinous substances andV essential oils occurring in or exudingfrom plants Fora: great -many years,- oleoresins-i used in ther manufactureofv turpentinefz and rosin have been obtained incommerciali quantities by chipping the bark and wood of living pine trees and collecting the exuding oleoresins or gum in containers. In recent years it has been found that the gum iiow from chipped trees could be increased by applying chemicals such as sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide to the freshly chipped surfaces. To secure a continuous ow of gum, with or Without the application of chemicals, it is necessary to expose freshly cut surfaces through frequent repetitions of the chipping process. The invention herein described provides a method of stimulating a continuous ow of gum over long periods without rewounding the tree.

When applied to pine trees, my new process,

, turpentining, or through?. punch@ holes` orfother woundsin .the barki orf-wooda` In its.broaderasA peca-,the process contemplatesatha use i of fungus,-l orfotherliving organisms;A 1

. Ithavei foundthat' aspeciesoi Fusariumffunf gus isolated-@from pitch .cankers of v Virginia pine,- when f introduced l into lartificial woundszma'de in the trunks of!I Virginia {pine} shortleaf pine; and.; longle'af pine;r will` induce,1 .aw copious. and? loner.-t oontinuediowvof: oleoresin;l This species"v of sa'ri'um"r fungus: causesa pit-ahy f cank'ersf on young.- branchesl andi stems -ofVirg-in'ia.A pine (Pnusf.-oz'r.- gtniomat- MillJfN and v towa lessery extentgY attacks; shortleaf andfpi-tch pines. (P: echz'n'ata-fMill. and P.: rgida Mills) .l

Innmy.. processi .thespitch canker iungu'sis iso'-r latedl andi` grown:r in! pure culture.' on Toch'iriai':` liquid or other suitable culture media. v Theine: gus sportsormyceliumobtainedfrom thefculture wereiapplied to treewoundsxsuch.asilpunchz holes or gouged streaks through.: they b'ark` l orl` woodfr Thepresenceof the yfungusrirr` the tissues-stimulates L aa. copious flowfoff oleoresin that. continuesir for: aJ perio'doffmiany :weeks or months. Suitablel oontainerssuchzas those customarily: employed'rinL turpentinin'garelattachedato: the tree-trunk below.: thewounds, to `receive", the exuding-roleoresin or; gum.v

VInillustration and-fin prooi. of thefeffectivenessf, of the process, a number of Virginia pines-:Weiterl inoculated-with'.an :active1=culture of `pitchcanker fungus` through gougedf streaks 1 ln= thebarm` A11 lieaw# contimiousv 'flow' of oleoresin: exuded ffrom.L thesefstreaks for a numb'erfof 'monthsrwithoutiadn ditional ichippin'g or additional i inoculation.. On;` each orfthesextrees; a igouged''streaiev wasV leftune inoculated to serve as a check. From these check streaks there was very little oW of gum, which soon ceased entirely. y

The tests were repeated on Virginia pine, shortleaf pine, and longleaf pine. Trunks of several trees of these species were inoculated with pitch canker fungus through punch holes through the bark to the wood. Check experiments were run on these same trees by leaving punch holes untreated. Punch holes to which the active fungus was applied yielded as high as 126 cubic centimeters of gum in 74 days, whereas punch holes on this same tree that were uninoculated pro` duced only 4 cubic centimeters of gum over the 'same period of 14 days,

does not advance rapidly fromthe point of inoculation on the trunks of susceptible pines. Its progress is more notable in a vertical than in a horizontal direction. Thereforafthere is no rapid girdling ci the inoculated trees used forturpen-V` tining. The vertical advance'ioffthe iungusfin the tissues does not destroy them'any Iast'erthan is done through the process oi repeated chipping,

such as is employed in the ordinary tinpentin-f'.

u.: lacankers on pines.

ing of pine trees.

While the process has been described as particularly applicable to pines and other coniferous.v

trees, wider application is within its broad purview, comprehending stimulation of secretions from other kinds of plants. In its broader aspects the process includes adaptation to obtain: c. Increased; productionv of dammar, a resin derived from various evergreen trees and usedv mostly iormaking colorless varnish.

b. Increased production oi spruce gum, a resinous exudation from the whitetspruce, the black spruce, orthe. balsam iir, used as a chewing gum.

c. Increased production ofthe resin secreted by J efrey pine iirCaliornia and elsewhere, from which heptane, a hydrocarbon, can be prepared.

Asalready indicated, the process is also applicable in the production of naval stores by steam or destructive distillation of the wood. When the inoculation described above is applied to trees which have been subjected to scarifying and to turpentine collection, Vthe inltrationof pitch into the Wood of the trees about the wounds is increased'. When the collection of turpentine fromv the tree is no longer protable, and the tree is-chopped down, the resulting pitch-soaked butts are more valuable-to the wood distillationV industry. e

- y Byfapplyingthe process'to the upper part of vtuirpentined trees, the infiltration of pitch in the upper part canbe increased.,

vInaseries of tests on Virginia, shortleaf, long- ;leaf, ;and slash -pines,in which the Fusarium L fungus described, above was introduced through --f punch holes or gl1gedstreaks through the bark in the trunks, it Awas foundthat the 'wood around thefinoculations became iniiltrated with pitch.

Tests on uninoculated control samples of these trees-.resu1ted in amuch lower degree of pitch infiltration. f, l @My-method is also-applicablefto trees hitherto considered to be of low value to the naval stores indu stry. It is applicableto coniierous species that are not generally `turp'entined.- The new method increases the supply. of, and the quality of, wood suitable. for thev wood naval stores industry, and

helps provide a replenishing source of raw materials for distillation.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: l." The method Aoi? producing .increased `production of cleoresins and gumsl in oniferous treewood comprising wounding the coniferous bark and living sapwood, and applyingto the wound ya species Vof Fusarium fugus present in pitchy Y. cankers of Pinus vivyinz'ana Mill. 2. The method of obtaining increased iiow of f oleoresins and gums from coniferous trees com--a prising wounding the living treeand applying to the wound' a. substantially pure culture of pitch g canker Fusarium fungus obtained from pitchy 3. The method of obtaining increased flow of oleoresins and gums from pines comprising applylngvto an artificial wound on the trunk 0f the pine aculture of a species of Fusarium fungus 2o that is present in pitchy cankers of Pinus virginiana Mill.

i y 4. The method of obtaining .oleoresins, gums, and the like from coniferous plants comprising wounding the surface of the plant and-applystimulates and increases the ilow of oleores'insv and gums said organism being pitch canker Fusarium fungus obtained from pitchy ca'nkersllri.l pines. 5. The' method defined in claim 2 in which" the wound is in the trunkof the tree. Y' M 6. The process described in claim' -1 'and in which the resulting pitch-inilltrated woodoi the tree is subjected to distillationftcfprodiicelaval stores. "f j.

. '1. The process described in clailn 1,' anticollecting the oleoresins "and guisexudingirom said Wound.

8. The process comprising sti'rnulal'gingftliefin- GEORGE fl!! REFERENCES CITED The'iollowing references are of record ing the file of this patent:

Dufrenoy, Production Pathologlque de ine et la Gemmage, Biol. Abs., vol. 2,1 entry 9329, published 1928.

Number ing to the wound a cultured living organismthat 

